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Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Queen Elizabeth and Bwindi

The sunrise the next morning was unreal, you could look at the sun and it wouldn't hurt your eyes!

Hyena

A shop in the middle of the park

Birds nest

A shot of the whole tree with all the birds nests

Now to Bwindi, how cool is this picture? It almost looks like islands on water but it really is mountains over the fog.

The next morning we got up early to go gorilla trekking! I had been working at the Smithsonian Zoo with the gorillas and this was part of the main reason we chose Uganda to travel to, to see the gorillas. I have fallen in love with these gentle giants. Did you know that although they are the largest primate they do not eat any meat?

So these are the mountain gorillas, there are only about 800 of them left. As a hint from the name, they live in the mountains. I knew it would be a hard hike to find them but I had no idea it would be as hard as it was. The forest is called the impenetrable forest for a reason. The trees are so close together that you sometimes either have to squeeze through them or crawl under bushes. Our guide was in front with a machete trying to clear somewhat of a path for us. These mountains had a very steep incline and falling while going up or down was inevitable. All around us there was stinging nettle that made you itch like crazy and it stung of course. But having to go through all of that to see the gorillas made it even more worth it to see these amazing animals.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the first gorilla. He was so close to us.

This girl was literally an arms length away from me.

A silverback, hint to why they are called silverback

My favorite picture of the whole trip

Although it was the hardest hike either of us have ever been on it was one of the best days of my life!